


Thinking Trouble

by heartheldhostage



Series: Friendship [2]
Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 07:45:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2016759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartheldhostage/pseuds/heartheldhostage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Audrey is still upset about a Trouble she couldn't help. Nathan and Duke try to distract her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thinking Trouble

They woke early the next morning. Nathan went home to shower and change for work. Duke, at her insistence, showered at Audrey's before heading downstairs to open The Gull.

Audrey had a thinking trouble. It wasn't a real Trouble, but it was sometimes a problem. She was finally alone with her thoughts. She wanted to think about last night and how wonderful it was to see Nathan and Duke happy, but she couldn't get the kid from yesterday off her mind. She still blamed herself for not being there in time.

She moved through her morning routine automatically, hardly realizing anything until she pulled into her parking space at work. She shook her head at the coffee cups beside her. She didn't even remember stopping for them. She pasted a smile on her face, grabbed the coffee, and went inside.

 

“Parker!" Nathan yelled.

She turned a puzzled expression his way. “Yeah, what?” She shook her head trying to clear it.

“I asked you if you want me to file the report on yesterday's incident,” Nathan said calmly, quietly.

“Report?” she asked. “Oh! Yeah, no, I got it.”

“Go home, Parker.”

“No, I got it. It'll just take a minute.”

Nathan closed the door and walked to her desk. He reached out and took her hand in his, waiting for her to look at him. “Audrey, I just called your name a dozen times. I had to yell to get your attention. You can't work like this. Please, for me, go home.”

She nodded. She gathered her things and left the office, closing the door behind her.

Nathan was on the phone with Duke before Audrey was even down the front steps.

“I just sent Parker home.”

“What? Why?”

Nathan repressed the urge to snap at Duke, a nearly ingrained habit. “She's out of it, Duke. Really out of it. Take care of her till I get off work. Try to make her feel better any way you can.”

“You're assuming she comes back here, Nate. If she goes somewhere else?”

“Call me if she's not there in half an hour.” Nathan hung up.

 

Duke was sitting in the patio chair in front of her door when she arrived twenty minutes later, Rosemary's cupcakes in hand.

“Nathan called you,” she said. “He shouldn't have. I'll be fine.” She unlocked the door and went inside.

Duke didn't move from the chair.

“Are you gonna get your ass in here or not?” she called out a short time later.

Duke grinned and went inside. He sat on the couch and watched her eat two cupcakes and drink an entire cup of coffee. He still said nothing.

“Where is it?” she finally asked.

“Where's what?” he answered with his own question.

“My lecture about how I can't save everyone...how I'm not the only person fighting the Troubles...how I couldn't have known what would happen yesterday...how it wasn't my fault...”

“You just proved you know all of that so why should you get a lecture about it?”

“Damn it, Duke! I'm tired of this! I'm tired of all of this shit driving me insane! He was a child, for Pete's sake! A child!”

Duke stood up and moved closer to her.

She hit him repeatedly in the chest with both fists as she shouted, “Why? Why couldn't I save him? Why did another fucking Trouble kill another kid on my watch while I couldn't do a damn thing about it?”

She collapsed against his chest as her tears began to flow. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as he began softly naming names of the people she had saved, including Nathan's and his own. He rubbed her back and kissed her head.

He felt it when her legs gave out beneath her and carried her to the bed. He stretched out beside her, still holding her tight.

Her tears slowly subsided, and she began to relax against him.

“It's okay, Audrey. You're okay. I'm right here. I've got you,” he whispered.

He held her and spoke softly to her until he was sure she was asleep. He slipped out of her arms and onto the deck to call Nathan.

“She okay?”

“Hello to you, too, Nate.”

“Sorry, Duke, just worried about Parker.”

“I know. I just can't handle both of you losing it at the same time. She's sleeping now, but this one really got to her.”

“You weren't able to cheer her up at all?”

“No, but I think I know what we can do together to help her out. Go by your place and The Rouge and bring us some extra clothes...just in case.”

“Be there soon.”

Duke stuck his head in to check on Audrey before making his next call.

“The Grey Gull. How may I help you?” the cheerful voice asked.

“Tracy, it's me. I need you to send a special order upstairs around 5:15.”

Duke could hear the sound of the pencil as she wrote it down. She read the order back to him before asking, “Is that right?”

“That's perfect. Thanks Tracy.”

“Not a problem, Duke.”

Duke went back inside with Audrey. It would be at least another two hours before Nathan arrived. He sat back on the bed and closed his eyes.

A short time later, Audrey reached her hand out in her sleep. She smiled when her hand found his.

 

Audrey was awake and moving around before Nathan arrived. She had showered and changed, but she was still distant, hardly aware of her surroundings. Duke waited patiently for her to notice he was still there.

The food arrived mere minutes after Nathan did...one of the many reasons he loved Tracy...prepared exactly as he had asked. It took some convincing, some reasoning, some pleading, and, yes, some threatening, but Audrey finally sat down and agreed to try and eat something.

Duke had ordered pancakes for Nathan, shrimp for Audrey, and tacos for himself. He'd purposely picked the wine for the others and his own beer. He was pleased to see that Audrey and Nathan finished nearly all of their food. He knew Nate would because...well...pancakes. It was a relief that Audrey's love of shrimp overpowered her mood.

She had perked up some, but not nearly enough. Duke was pretty sure it wasn't an act because that would have meant a bigger difference in her mood. He was determined to see her smile tonight. He picked up one of the last shrimp on her plate. “You missed one,” he said as he tossed it down her shirt.

She gave him her patented don't-fuck-with-me look, the one that Duke usually obeyed, and said, “Duke, I _will_ slap you.”

As she dug down her shirt to get the wayward shrimp. Duke dropped a few bits of diced tomato down her back.

“Damn it, Duke!” She exclaimed as she really did try to slap him. Luckily for him he was fast enough to duck the hit.

As she stood up to shake out her shirt, Nathan's finger grazed her nose. It wasn't until she saw his grin that she realized he'd spread syrup on it.

“You're both going to hell because I'm personally sending you tonight,” she said, trying to fight a grin. She pulled her shirt over her head and wiped her nose with it.

It was a waste of time. Nathan had already smeared strawberry jam across her stomach.

“Damn!” she exclaimed again.

“Here, let me help you with that,” Duke said. He pulled her closer to him and licked the jam away. “Now I see why you like jam, Nate. You're right. It is pretty good.”

Audrey's skin felt as though it were on fire where Duke had licked her. She was too shocked to speak.

Duke stuck his fingers into the sauce from Audrey's shrimp and smeared it just a hair's breadth above her bra. Looking at Nathan, he grinned and said, “But we really do need to get you over your dislike of seafood.”

Nathan took the hint. He pulled Audrey down into his lap and slowly licked the sauce from her chest. Duke had stepped behind her and, when Nathan lifted his head, smeared more sauce on her, this time dipping just below her bra. She moaned as Nathan slowly licked that off, too.

“You may be right, Duke,” Nathan mumbled against Audrey's skin, “seafood isn't all that bad.”

Duke chuckled as he pulled a bottle of chocolate syrup from Audrey's refrigerator. He walked over to them and squeezed the bottle, pouring syrup over her chest and stomach. They laid her farther back. Nathan licked the syrup from her stomach while Duke licked it from her chest.

Audrey was shivering with pleasure. Duke reached beneath her and unhooked her bra. He looked her in the eye, waiting. He removed the bra as soon as she gave a slight nod.

He grabbed the chocolate syrup and squeezed it over her breasts. She arched her back and moaned loudly in delight as Nathan licked and sucked one of her breasts while Duke licked and sucked the other. Her breath caught in her throat as their mouths met at the center of her chest, and their lips locked into a passionate kiss.

Nathan kissed her as Duke stepped to the other side of the chair and removed the rest of her clothes and his. They helped her stand up. She kissed Duke as Nathan removed his own clothes. They took her hands and walked her to the bed.

Audrey didn't have any thinking trouble the rest of the night.


End file.
